Rip Hamilton to come off the bench

If a switch is in store, the sneak peek is favorable On the day the world’s most powerful office changes occupants, a transition of another sort appears ready to take place: Michael Curry gave every indication before Monday’s win over Memphis to snap their five-game losing streak that the Pistons are returning to their big lineup,likely meaning either Rip Hamilton or Allen Iverson is headed to the bench.
If Curry’s substitution pattern meant anything – and it might not – then Hamilton is probably the better guess. When it was time to go big midway through the first quarter, Kwame Brown came on for Hamilton.
That allowed Curry to bring Hamilton back to start the second quarter – and when Stuckey and Iverson soon exited for their first rests of the game, Hamilton was on the floor along with four reserves: Will Bynum, Arron Afflalo, Jason Maxiell and Antonio McDyess. He promptly knocked down six consecutive shots after going 0 for 1 in the first quarter while playing small forward and matched Iverson’s 12 first-quarter points with 12 of his own in the second.

Here are the nuts and bolts and ramifications of the move:
- Amir Johnson, who didn’t play in Monday’s win at Memphis, will be the starter alongside Rasheed Wallace most nights. But against really big teams – Curry cited the Lakers, with 7-footers Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol – Kwame Brown will be the starter.

- Hamilton will anchor a second unit that will include Antonio McDyess and Jason Maxiell at the power positions with Will Bynum at point guard.

- It’s not an experiment. “This is for the rest of the season,” Curry said.

Technically, no-trade clauses do not exist in the NBA. What does exist, are trade kickers (bonuses) that make it difficult to trade a guy, because there is more money involved than the trade value. Someone either overpays to see a guy leave or arrive.

if AA backs up Tay it's not really small ball if we still have 2 bigs in the game. to me SB is defined more by Tay at the 4 than Rip/AA at the 3. and AA has shown he can guard 3s pretty well (besides he'll be guarding bench 3s anyway).

i'm glad this is over and done with. we have some stability and can work toward a common goal for the rest of the season. and rip's comments, taking it like a champ...is very encouraging.